Authors note: The Copyright for the images below rests with the original taker, I assume. If anyone objects to me showing a particular image below, please contact me.
Some colour images have not scanned in too well - my apologies.

Pssst!! do you want to see loads more classic car photos? there are hundreds of
classic car images to look at, photographs of old cars, trucks, racing cars, lorries and more! in the NEW oldclassiccar
Photo Archive!! See home page for details when you've finished here!

Old motoring postcards (Page 2)

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I have been collecting old car memorabilia for many years. My collection, which threatens to swamp a number of rooms in my house, encompasses
old motoring maps, photographs, postcards, stamps, signs, brochures and so on. More recently I have also been collecting motor racing memorabilia.

However throughout all this, I have always kept a keen eye open at toy fairs, trade fairs, collectors / antique auctions and the like for old transport photos and postcards. Whereas
there are plenty of reproduction postcards available, I try to find original postcards and, if possible, original photographs, with a transport theme - whether it be vintage automobile
or classic aircraft related.

Below are some of my favourite old motoring images, to which I will add when I get time in coming weeks. If you can identify any of the historic
vehicles that appear in the postcards, please contact me and I will add the details to this web site. There is also a section for comical motor postcards, dating to the 1930s/40s.

If you have an old postcard for sale, please let me know - I have no
specific 'wanted' list but if its similar to those below, I might be interested in buying it off you.

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Paris.
"Les Belles Choses de France". Great little postcard of Paris, sent October 1923 and franked with "Visitez l'exposition de Strasbourg Juin - Octobre 1923". Can anyone enlighten me as to
what the vintage car is heading our way, with the Chambre des Deputes in the background?

Guinness.
I have no idea what this is about!! Looks like a staff party or something? Numerous young ladies probably in the 1930s sat in a remarkably small vintage era car, clutching large promotional sized bottles of stout!
Nice AA badge on the grille. Note the background, looks like a large painting of a country scene - maybe a television film set? who knows? Also note the 2 nearest ladies, perched on a small bicycle! This original card is undated.
Update June 06 - Ken dropped me a line about this postcard - "The old car in the postcard photo with a group of girls under the heading
'Guinness' is a Morris Minor four seat tourer of c1928 to 1931. This car had a Wolseley designed (William Morris owned Wolseley) OHC engine which became famous when adopted and developed by MG. The car appears to be a studio prop suggesting that it was quite old at the time the photo was taken. The windscreen has been removed.". Thanks Ken, much appreciated.

Seattle.
Great 1950s photo on this postcard of "Ivar's Acres of Clams Restaurant and Ivar's Fish Bar on Seattle's waterfront Pier 54, next to the fireboat station - famous for fine seafood dishes". A fine collection of classic
American classic cars and a lone pickup from the late 1940s and early 1950s - no fins yet!

Is this establishment still there?

Bute.
Not much going on here, a lone 1950s Hillman Minx dazzling us with its classic lines, a family tucking into a nice picnic just behind. The exact location is Kilchattan Bay, on the Isle of Bute in Scotland, a small 'x' having been
added to this postcard highlighting where the sender of this card was staying. I think this card is dated 1961, though its not too clear.

Lerwick.
This original postcard shows Commercial Street, in Lerwick, taken around the mid 1950s, judging by the sepia tone and the highly polished Wolseley registration PS 1936 parked to the side. Note the period attire to the natty
gentleman walking towards us, flat cap at a jaunty angle, looking like he's just stepped out of a Dick Barton adventure. Maybe he'll pay a visit to the shop on the left, James A. Manson's no less, Confectioner. Next to that is W.A.
Robertsons, and further down to the right is a sign proclaiming a distributor for Murphy radios, a popular make of wireless back then (I'm told!).

Eastbourne.
A great retouched photo cum postcard, sent in 1961 from Eastbourne, Sussex UK. Loads of historic cars here, for instance on the left, an Austin A40 Somerset, Vauxhall Wyvern/Cresta E Series and Austin A30 further up, while
on the right delights include Ford 103E Popular, Standard 10, Ford E04C van (with roofrack!), two tone Hillman Minx, Standard Vanguard Phase 1 'beetleback' and all manner of more vintage era cars, a fab open top bus heading
towards us, being pursued by either a Morris Minor or Morris Cowley, an Austin 7, and another Ford 10hp saloon.

Colwyn Bay.
Another seaside postcard, this time Colwyn Bay (North Wales) looking across to Rhos on Sea. No date given for this one, but I'd guess around 1960. Tantalising glimpses of vehicles here include the usual Ford 103E Pop, back end
of Austin A40 Devon Countryman, 100E, Mk2 Consul, Morris 1000 and many other fuzzy automobiles from back when skiffle ruled, and the quiff was de-rigeur for all young blades out to impress on a Saturday night.

Sutton on Sea.
Here is the high street, Sutton-On-Sea, probably taken sometime in the early 1960s. Seen on the road outside the Bacchus Hotel (still there?) is a Standard Pennant (posh version of the 10 - registration LEE 735), Austin Cambridge (Farina), Jaguar Mk2,
Ford 100E Popular, a pre-Farina Oxford, a grey Austin or Morris Mini-Minor Mk1, and a Moggy Traveller closely followed by another Moggy 1000.

Yarmouth.
Going back to the 1950s and an image showing The Square, Yarmouth, on the Isle of Wight. DXO 262, the large black saloon (Humber?) is about to overtake a Triumph 1800 roadster, itself parked up outside the Bugle Hotel. Maybe the large saloon is a taxi? it
has a semi-circular plate attached to its rear bumper, as does the Morris on the righthandside, which looks very taxi-like. On the left in shadow is a quaint shop advertising Hovis bread and Teas for sale. There seem to be many flags in evidence along this stretch
of road, so maybe there was a carnival or, possibly, could it have been taken around the time of the Coronation in '52?

Parkgate, Nr Chester, 1960s.
There are some nice cars in this old street scene. 788 LFM adorns the shapely rump of a grey Austin A35, nestled behind a P5 Rover, and another black 103E Popular. On the other side is a Standard Vanguard, with a Mk1 Cortina
parked right behind. Things get a bit blurred further up the road but I think thats the back of a Riley One-Point-Five or Wolseley 1500 driving away from us, with a BMC 1100 heading our way, passing a parked Mk2 Zephyr/Zodiac Ford.

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